1994-1995

Maxime and some of her students went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in October of 1994 for the Triwizard Tournament. She made such an impact on ProfessorRubeus Hagrid that he immediately started trying to impress her: he tried to tame his hair, wore his best ill-fitting clothes, and even showed her the Triwizard Tournamentdragons while they were still meant to be a secret. Given his lack of social graces, however, this was not so successful. It is unclear whether she was impressed by this, but either way, Hagrid scuppered any chance he might have had at the Yule Ball. It was here that he put it to Olympe that she was a half-giantess just like him - he was right, of course, but she was not inclined to conced such a point, and, for the rest of her stay, avoided his company.

She is described as being elegant and wearing black satin robes. She is graceful despite her size (and reputedly a wonderful dancer), with handsome olive-skinned features, huge black eyes, and sleek hair drawn back from her face. She dresses from top to toe in black satin, and is laden with opal jewellery.

It is revealed that Maxime's huge size is due to her half-giant background. She fiercely denies this, claiming that she has "big bones".

Personality and traits

Madam Maxime appeared to get on well with her students. She had a sense of fair play and felt it was unjust that Harry Potter had also been chosen for the Triwizard Tournament which gave Hogwarts two champions, and at first she refused to accept that Harry hadn't actually put his name in the Goblet of Fire. However, she did not judge Harry unfairly during the Triwizard Tournament's tasks, giving him an 8 out of 10 on the dragon probably because the Horntail successfully attacked Harry once (though slightly lower than most of the others', it was far fairer than Karkaroff's four). She also was willing to give Harry full marks in the second task for moral fiber, despite Karkaroff only awarding him half marks. Olympe was ashamed of being a half giant and claimed that she was simply "big-boned." Though Hagrid described her as a fine, well dressed woman, Maxime didn't complain once about having to climb over boulders or sleep in caves during her and Hagrid's mission to visit the giants. She also had a fiery temper and Hagrid had to restrain her from attacking two Death Eaters during the mission, leading him to speculate that this may be due to the French in her.

Magical abilities and skills

Cornelius Fudge: "But did you say it was just past the Beauxbatons Carriage? Dumbledore, do you know what that woman is'"

Albus Dumbledore: "I consider her a very able Headmistress...and an excellent dancer."

As the headmistress of a prominent European Wizarding School, Madam Olympe Maxime is a competent Witch deserving of the title bestowed upon her.

Duelling: Though she was never shown actually fighting, Maxime has proven to be a capable duellist, since Rubeus Hagrid claimed that Madam Maxime performed an excellent Conjunctivitis Curse during their mission to rescue him when he was ambushed by the giants under Golgomath's command. He also said that she was able to do very fast spellwork.

Etymology

Olympe is the French word for Olympus, the mountain home of the Greek gods. Maxime is French for "principle," a pun on "principal". It is derived from the Latin maxima, the feminine form of "maximus," meaning "greatest" or "biggest."

In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Olympe and Hagrid's relationship wasn't that much good. Hagrid gave her a flower with a candlelight dinner after showing Harry the dragons but let a dragon breathe fire at the candles and burn the flower. Also when she and the Beauxbatons students were leaving, Hagrid and Olympe were about to kiss but she rejected him because of the smell of the Abraxan horse poop he was scooping.